FEELIN' GOOD... BUT THE TOUGHEST CHALLENGE LIES AHEAD

Five straight wins, ladies and gentlemen! It's about time. Wins certainly haven't come easy this season, and they also haven't come often enough. Should we feel good after winning five in a row? Yes. Should we get overly confident now? NO.

There are 13 games left in the regular season. The Yankees are breathing down the Blue Jay's necks (FINALLY!) and the damn Rays are still in first place. Granted, ahead by four games looks a lot better now than what it did. It's still not enough though.

I like the burst of momentum here a lot but....these next 13 games are do or die. In fact, it is GO BIG OR GO HOME as far as I am concerned. We don't see the Rays again during the regular season, but we see the Blue Jays SEVEN more times. This is HUGE. These games are must wins....no sense in sugar coating it.

The Yankees are off today, and I hope they are resting but not getting too comfortable. Tuesday night the Yankees better be ready to pounce. It's time to climb back in the standings. We shouldn't be behind the Blue Jays or even tied with them. The last 13 games decide everything and the Yankees have a big advantage that they need to take advantage of.

BLUE JAYS-RED SOX-BLUE JAYS-MARLINS
Say it again....that is the remainder of the regular season schedule. The Yankees could certainly have a much worse schedule to end the regular season with. The Rays end their season against the Phillies, and I hope the Phillies trample all over them. These are the matchups we need to win and this is where we need to shine.

On top of a more favorable schedule, by next weekend we MIGHT have Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge back, read more HERE. I'm crossing my fingers, but having both of these guys back in the lineup just in time for our last games against the Blue Jays and the Marlins would be a big morale boost. We feel good right now, but the extra pop and depth could be exactly what we need to go out with the biggest bang.

The Yankees will have Deivi Garcia on the mound on Tuesday and I'm ready for that. I'm excited by Garcia, and honestly, I feel good about letting him pitch an important series against the Blue Jays. Wednesday and Thursday will be up to Gerrit Cole and Masahiro Tanaka. I feel good about this next series. The stars are aligned for us....but we have to execute.

There are no words to describe the importance of this next series. A sweep against the Orioles feels good, but a series win against the Blue Jays will feel even better.

It's GO TIME!

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj